National Republican., 1887-07-26
A uooDooED BALLOON.
Career of tho Collapsed Airship Great
Northwest.
philadelphia Record. ]

philadelphia Record
"It would have been surprising had the
balloon the Great Northwest failed TO col
lapse,m said gentleman who claimed to
know whereof he affirmed, in speaking
yesterday Of the ilasco In the park on tho
Fourth.
"The balloon has been sort OF hoodooed
from the beginning" he continued, "but
Its history is very interesting, especially TO
the thousands who made up the crowd In
the park. 1t was constructed In 1881 by
Prof. King, the aeronaut, OF rubber, after a
method which King claimed as his own.
Prof. King constructed the giant air ship at
the instigation Of his namesake, the some
/ what famous ex. Congressman Bill King, Of
f. Minneapolis. The latter gentleman was
/ president Of an association which gave
/ great fairs every fall in Minneapolis.
| at was decided, in order to advertise the
affair, that there should be big balloon
! ascension, said balloon to settle, IL possl-
/ BILE, the vexed question:: rs there or is there
| not an air current moving steadily In a di-
rcction directly opposite to that OF the
earth on its axisP Aeronaut King believes,
| or did believe, In that current, and he re-
| ceived the commission for the construction
OF the huge airship.
at was Intended that the balloon should
remain In the air for some days hunting for
the supposed current, AS IL was designed
that IL should have q lifting capacity OF
5000 pounds or more, II was determined to
initiate the balloon with pure gas. Accord
ingly huge retorts were built upon the fair
grounds, and these, with the tons OF iron
filings and scores OF carboys OF sulphuric
acid, cost more than 5000.
"After many delays the huge spheroid
left the earth and fully 10000 applaudlug
spectators just before sunset one beautiful
September evening. In addition to Aero
naut King the car carried an officer from
the signal Office at Washington with com.
plete outfit OF meteorological instruments,
correspondents from the Boston Journal,
New York Herald, Chicago Times, st. Paul
Pioneer Press, ana Minneapolis Tribune,
about 1000 pounds Of food and fully
5000 pounds OF sand ballast. A respectable
heighth was attained, but there was not .
breath Of air, and the largely heralded voy-
age ended in Kanapheide's COW pasture
about five miles from the fair grounds. The
party kept the cows away from the balloon
for nearly week, waiting for favorable
wind, but finally northwestern zephyr
raised such rom that the lashings threat
ened TO give away, and the balloon was
collapsed to prevent It's destruction.
'At that time It escaped with but little
damage, but month later clothing firm
in Chicago sent King and a signal sergeant
up again, and the yoyagers had very
l EOuBu GApeIltuCeb. lucy WcIc TcpuItcu w
lost for days, but the party finally emerged
from. the woods near Chippewa Falls
Wis. They nearly perished In th,
surrounding woods, and had left TIN
Great Northwest ut logging CAM
and In sadly demoralized condition
Probably the material never recovered fron
the treatment 1t received on that trip. /
was torn by the trees and their branches
Worse than all, It was left in q stream 70
many hours, where the water froze arount
IT., thawed, and again froze. Sheetiroi
could not stand that kind OF thing withou
being injured"
The work Of initiating the balloon on Mon
day WIS under the charge OF Superin
tendent OF Distribution Boone. Prot
King said that 100000 cubic feet OF <
would be necessary to swell the air ship l.
. the proper size, so the citizens committe
paid the gas bureau $50 before the ga
| was turned on. Eight hours time wa
required to ill the balloon. 1t was abou
one-siXth the size OF one OF the holders O
| the Market street works, and yet the entir
consumption had no visible effect upon tn
holders. The balloon In which Prof. Wis
ascended contained but 1900 feet OF gas
costing SIS. The sixteen little balloons cor
tained but 40 feet Of gas each.